Chinese tech giant ByteDance, owner of TikTok, says it will tighten safeguards on its viral AI video tool Seedance 2.0 after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Disney over alleged copyright breaches.

Seedance 2.0, released last week, allows users to create highly realistic short videos from simple text prompts.

Since launch, social media has been flooded with clips depicting well-known characters and actors, including Marvel superheroes, Star Wars figures and Hollywood stars in fictional fight scenes.

Disney has accused ByteDance of effectively pre-packaging the tool with a “pirated library” of its intellectual property, including characters from Marvel, Star Wars and other franchises.

In its legal notice, Disney reportedly described the alleged infringement as a “virtual smash-and-grab” of its IP.

In a statement to international media, ByteDance said it “respects intellectual property rights” and had “heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0”.

“We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users,” a spokesperson said, declining to provide further details.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents major studios including Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, has also demanded the company “immediately cease” what it described as infringing activity on a massive scale.

Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has labelled the tool’s outputs “blatant infringement”.

The dispute highlights escalating tensions between generative AI developers and the global entertainment industry, as studios seek to protect valuable franchises while also striking commercial AI partnerships.

Notably, Disney last year inked a reported US$1 billion investment and licensing deal with OpenAI, allowing limited use of selected characters for its Sora video-generation platform.

ByteDance has not disclosed what data was used to train Seedance 2.0.